One of mine took AP Euro, but didn’t take the AP test.
She didn’t feel the class prepared her well for the test.
And taking the AP Euro exam didn’t give any meaningful AP credit at her chosen college.
Great points about Mhulenberg. Agree there are fantastic smart students for whom it is “it.”
@BktoNJ My D (class of 2018) toured and/or applied at many of the same schools. Attended Roch freshman year and loved it. FWIW she was accepted as a humanities major with the same weighted GPA. They reduced her FA pretty drastically her second year and we couldn’t justify paying what they wanted, so she transferred to Susquehanna. Not sure where she’ll end up next year - back at Roch if they give her enough aid (we have a son attending college this year which might help with FA) or at Susquehanna. But I did want to say that SU is not religious at all. Also, Roch is expensive. Their FA paperwork estimates tuition four years out, and her senior year is expected to be $85k. And for kids in this stat range merit is measly. Great school though. Your son might be interested in Wheaton (MA). Our first visit was a total turnoff due to a horrible tour guide, but when D was looking to transfer I did a lot of research on it and was impressed. D was accepted but couldn’t get past that first visit. But I’ve heard a lot of good things, and they give fantastic merit. Allegheny and Dickinson were high on D’s list at the end.
@taverngirl I feel like you are one of my guiding spirits through this process. Thank you! Susquehanna is now definitely on the list. Wheaton is interesting so we’ll see if we can get there. I’ve absorbed your caution about URoch and won’t forget it as we continue to hone the list and eventually weigh acceptances.
@taverngirl What did you like about Wheaton? It’s on our long list, but we haven’t been able to learn much about it – strengths and weaknesses, vibe, etc.
curious about wheaton too. We have a visit scheduled. Concerned that nothing is around there however.
@BktoNJ just wanted to chime in also that Susquehanna is not at all religious! It’s a popular school by us; S17’s ex girlfriend is there along with several others. And they give generous merit! It’s on our list to look at, but I think D21 will nix it for being too small.
I wanted D to love TCNJ - good size, great academics, affordable. So, of course, she HATED it. Not just didn’t like it. Despised. I believe the quote was, “I’d rather poke a stick in my eye than live there.” LOL she has a dramatic streak!
She loved Syracuse (need a ton of money to make that work!). Next up is a southern spring break trip to see JMU, App State and some others still TBD.
We liked Syracuse, it’s a lot to manage for my kid, but their surveylance monitoring program has killed it for him, and now it’s a question he asks at info sessions, whether the administration uses student cell phones to monitor their movements. I think it’s a good question!
TCNJ uses rank as a merit criteria. That will work against my son unless I can lobby for his guidance department to remove rank from the transcript. The majority of students don’t submit rank so I really wish our school did not include it automatically. Punishes decent kids from really competitive schools IMHO.
@Johnny523 both my kids were in this GPA range and they both applied to Northern Arizona. My D attended and really enjoyed it! My S applied. got in, and even though he went elsewhere, it was a very close second choice! I have yet to meet someone who attended NAU who didn’t enjoy their time there!
Some other schools that may be worth checking out:
University of Idaho
Western Washington
Southern Oregon
Colorado State
Western Colorado University
College of Idaho
Carroll College
University of Wyoming
Montana and Montana State
For those out west, another school worth looking at is University of Nevada-Reno. Lots of beautiful new facilities.
Some private schools worth looking at:
Eckerd College
Linfield College
Willamette
St. Mary’s College of California
Dominican University of California
Cal Lutheran
@BktoNJ agree, it would hurt my D at her school as well, but we don’t rank. They do show percentiles (like 6% between 4.5-5; 12% 4.0-4.49 etc…). I’ve been looking at the TNCJ forum and merit awards stink this year as a whole anyway. Rowan will be her in state safety, hoping for honors college to sweeten the pot for her. Their merit is better too!
@NJWrestlingmom @taverngirl and others who know Susquehanna, how do you think it would fit a kid like this:
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smart and likes intellectual discussions BUT ALSO struggles with heavy workloads due to ADHD/Executive Function/processing speed challenges (so he wants a place where kids have talk about classes, politics, current events, etc. outside the classroom but he’s not built for a pressure cooker academically by any stretch…what takes others 2 hours to do might take him 4). He’s currently on track for an A or B in APUSH, but the workload is rough for him, and I’m not at all sure he’ll get a 4+ on the AP exam despite the fact that he enjoys history.
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interested primarily in humanities/social sciences - not math or creative writing or sciences…likely looking to major in something like sociology, political science, environmental studies, psychology, urban studies, Latin, etc.
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not sporty/athletic (likes a bit of outdoorsy stuff - hikes or kayaks occasionally and has always enjoyed nature, but very much not a jock); not a music kid (seems like sports and music are big parts of the campus culture)?
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definitely not looking for a dominant Greek/fraternity culture
His first pass on the SATs = 1230 (660/570). There’s a chance that with another try or two he’ll superscore to upper 1200s or 1300ish. This is with time accommodations.
I see some things about Susquehanna that seem like a good fit - I think the location would work for him, he wants a small liberal arts college,…I think the mix of liberal arts with a bit of a career focus would work for him (I don’t see him as pursuing a Ph.D. someday)! He likes Pennsylvania just fine (we have family outside of Pittsburgh). He is completely unconcerned with prestige. We really want interesting accessible professors who are invested in helping their students succeed.
He’s a bit awkward socially. Works hard. Really good kid. We’re focused on college as a growth experience for him in all ways (not just focused on academics).
His list to this point is:
Beloit
Denison (reach)
Dickinson (reach)
Clark
Knox
Kalamazoo
Wheaton (MA)
Willamette
College of Wooster.
So far he’s visited Wooster and Denison and has seen reps of most of the other ones at a college fair. We’re seeing Beloit, Clark, and Wheaton in March and Knox and Kzoo in May. Willamette visit will wait until acceptances come in as it is very far from us (Atlanta area). We could easily add Susquehanna on to our Dickinson trip but wondering if it’s likely to fit this kid or not.
Do you know what merit looks like from Rowan? And the rough criteria for Honors college?
If you add Susquehanna, @nichols51, maybe add Juniata, which is not too far away. and may check your boxes. If he likes the outdoors, Juniata is not far from Raystown Lake, the largest lake in PA, and lots of small mountains for hiking.
@nichols51 I don’t know a lot about Susquehanna, other than second hand. I do get the impression that it is pretty sporty and there is a decent about of Greek life (D21 also not a Greek Life fan). What about Elizabethtown and/or Lebanon Valley? Both are smaller LAC in PA (right near Hershey) and I’ve heard great things about them.
@bktonj my son is a junior at Rowan but we’re full pay. Rowan merit now maxes out at $10k/year (total cost is under $30k depending on major and housing). Criiteria for Honors varies; this year an invite to apply to honors is automatic with a 1300 SAT and 3.33 GPA - separate application, essay and recommendation letter required to apply. But priority registration and housing is a great perk there.
^…and further NW in PA, he might also like Allegheny College, which I understand has a really good environmental science/studies program. Allegheny does have some Greek life, I think, but I get the feeling (I’ve looked at some Allegheny videos) that the student vibe overall seems really down-to-earth. I didn’t get that exclusive preppy/Greek/ feeling about the place at all.
@kbm770 and @eb23282 I was impressed with Wheaton’s placement/career services. It’s a cute campus in a cute town. Boston is close enough to head there on weekends, but for those that aren’t crazy about an urban campus, it’s far enough away to feel small town and safe. There seems to be a lot of diversity for such a small campus. They are part of a 12 college exchange program, and have other cool places around New England where students can attend for a semester (don’t recall details; I know one was in CT and one was at Woods Hole Institute). They push experiential learning (maybe even require) and the educational path seems very individualized. I also don’t remember details about studying abroad - maybe they fund it or have opportunities to get the trips funded? My d received about half tuition in merit. She felt the campus was too small, and the population is smaller than a lot of other LACs, but for kids who are looking at LACs, I think it’s worth a visit. Hope this helps.
@nichols51 There’s probably enough of what your S is looking for to make it worth a visit to SU. M D likes that the class sizes are small and she can get to know her profs. It seems easy to get research opps. I know your son is looking at humanities, but there still may be opportunities to do some research in those types of subjects. She doesn’t find the student body to be as “work hard” as she’s used to. Often when she goes to the library there’s very few people there. Maybe they study elsewhere? It was surprising to her.
Classes are appropriately challenging. She actually though they’d be easier than at her former school, but she’s not finding that, which is good. But they’re not crazy difficult either. I’m not sure what majors are strong there (I hear business is good). D is an Environmental Science major, and for that I think she had better options, but SU is what she chose so…
From what my D says the school is neither sporty nor very Greek. There are parties, but it seems very low key. She is mostly friends with the transfer students and found it hard to branch out friend-wise so has joined the crew team and met more friends that way. She is very outdoorsy as well and was excited to hear they had an Outdoor Club, but it doesn’t seem very active, and they don’t seem to do any hiking and camping, which is what she enjoys most. She hasn’t mentioned anything about the music being a big part of the campus culture so I can’t speak to that.
There is a very cute downtown village and strip mall mania a bit further away, but I’m not sure what else is nearby. I know Harrisburg is about an hour. Many students seem to have cars. D never has a problem getting a ride to go shopping.
Happy to ask her specific questions if you’d like.
@NJWrestlingmom thanks. Very helpful. We may be in the running. What does your son study? Mine is undecided but likely will be poly-sci, econ, something like that. I will look into the music program for non-majors, and study abroad.
@nichols51 our kids sound very similar. We went to an open house at Allegheny in November and came away very impressed. It’s a friendly serious place for all kinds of people. They strive for diversity and emphasize inclusiveness which is very important to us. We had great conversations with professors from several departments. There seemed to be an emphasis on collaborative work and all students need to take multiple course with an emphasis on written and oral presentation. Everyone does a senior project. They have generous merit and looks like cost for us would be close to in-state. I was impressed with the student services as well as the carreer and internship services. It’s about 90 minutes north of Pittsburgh in one of the snowiest areas in the country. Definitely outdoorsy students and faculty.
It’s also got a large and welcoming music department which is why we went in the first place. DS will almost definitely apply.